10 Things Animal Exploiters Do Not Want You to KnowAn Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

By exposing the truth of what animal profiteers
endeavor to make invisible, we reveal a means to end abuse that is nearly as
senseless as it is reprehensible. To that end, following are ten facts
animal exploiters hate the public knowing about -- and what you can do about
them.

Music legend and animal advocate Paul McCartney has said that if
slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. No one
understands this sentiment better than those who profit from animal abuse --
few people can view video footage of animals writhing in pain in vivisection
labs, bludgeoned to death for fur or sadistically beaten to perform circus
tricks and not be moved to do something about it. For the most part, such
footage is obtained secretly, for animal exploiters know that should their
abusive practices be exposed, the public will react with understandable
horror.

Though animal abuse is generally well hidden, make no mistake: Behind
every plastic-wrapped chicken breast in the supermarket, beneath every
animal-circus Big Top, inside every egg carton and lacing every
pharmaceutical there is a world of suffering that animal exploiters work
tirelessly to guard.

By exposing the truth of what animal profiteers endeavor to make
invisible, we reveal a means to end abuse that is nearly as senseless as it
is reprehensible. To that end, following are ten facts animal exploiters
hate the public knowing about -- and what you can do about them.

1. MALE CHICKS IN THE EGG INDUSTRY ARE KILLED SHORTLY AFTER
HATCHING

Because male chickens of the egg industry don’t lay eggs, and since they
have not been genetically manipulated for profitable meat production like
“broiler” chickens, they are of no economic value to egg producers,
including “free range” farmers. Newly hatched chicks are quickly sexed:
females will be used as “layers,” most likely trapped in a tiny wire battery
cage with five or six other hens, while males are immediately killed.
Standard killing methods include maceration (grinding them up alive),
gassing them or throwing them into a Dumpster to suffocate or dehydrate.
Workers make room for more chicks in the trash by mercilessly stomping down
on them, many of whom are still peeping for their mothers. The U.S. egg
industry quietly “disposes” of more than 200 million male chicks every year.

Clearly, the “incredible, edible” egg does not have a sunny side. The
good news is humans have no need for eggs. Eggless foods like tofu scramble
might sound a little strange at first, but they’re delicious, healthier than
eggs and will help save lives. For the hard-boiled truth about eggs, along
with advice for cooking without them, visit www.EggIndustry.com.

2. COWS DO NOT “GIVE” US THEIR MILK

Thanks in part to savvy marketing, even many vegetarians regard dairy
foods as innocuous. Slick ads tell us milk and cheese come from “happy
cows,” and the dairy industry claims that milk “does a body good”
(conveniently ignoring the fact that cow’s milk is the number-one cause of
food allergies among infants and children, according to the American
Gastroenterological Association). What the dairy industry does not mention
is the suffering inherent in producing dairy foods. In today’s
industrialized farming practices, a cow is strapped into what farmers call a
“rape rack,” where she is impregnated. Once the calf is born, however,
mother and baby are separated -- a heartrending ordeal in its own right --
so that the mother’s milk can be taken and sold for human use. Female calves
are raised on milk replacers, while male calves are sold for meat. Many of
these young males are locked into tiny crates, preventing all exercise, and
slaughtered a few months later for veal. After several cycles of giving
birth and having each baby torn from her, the dairy cow, her body exhausted,
begins producing less milk and she’s loaded onto a crowded transport truck
for a terrifying journey to the slaughterhouse, having lived only a fraction
of her natural lifespan.

Consumers need not be a part of this cruel scenario. Fortunately,
cruelty-free foods like soy ice cream and cheese have drastically improved
in recent years, and if you’ve got a jones for latte or breakfast cereal,
plant-based milk is delicious and available fortified with calcium and other
nutrients. Visit www.MilkSucks.com for more information.

3. ANIMAL AGRICULTURE IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING

Actually, raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than
all the cars and trucks in the world combined. According to a 2006 report by
the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, farmed animals and
the energy used to feed them account for 18 percent of global greenhouse
emissions, while transportation accounts for 13.5 percent. This is not
surprising, considering the livestock sector now occupies 30 percent of the
world’s land, making agribusiness a leading cause of deforestation. Billions
of animals raised every year for food generate 37 percent of the world’s
methane emissions and 65 percent of nitrous oxide -- two powerful greenhouse
gases. The methane comes chiefly from cows, who produce it naturally during
digestion, but it is also a byproduct of most manures stored for long
periods in lagoons or tanks. The USDA estimates that more than 335 million
tons of manure are produced annually on farms in the United States alone.
That’s about 130 times more manure than is produced by the nation’s entire
human population. The biggest inconvenient truth for anyone who cares about
this planet is how animal agribusiness is destroying it.

By consuming animal-based foods, we are ultimately contributing to
ecological disaster. The solution here is as clear as it is simple: Adopt a
planet-friendly plant-based diet. Check out www.TryVeg.com and www.GoVeg.com
to learn how easy it is.

4. MOST OF THE ANIMALS SLAUGHTERED FOR FOOD IN THE U.S. ARE NOT
LEGALLY PROTECTED FROM CRUELTY

That sounds axiomatic; after all, slaughtering animals for something so
unnecessary is inherently cruel. But even animal exploiters can show concern
for an animal’s welfare, which is what Congress had in mind 50 years ago
when it enacted the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, prohibiting methods of
handling and slaughter that cause pain to animals. Yet “poultry,” which to
the UDSA includes chickens, turkeys, ducks and, for some reason, rabbits,
are not among the animals protected by the Act. Of the 10 billion animals
raised and killed for food in this country, more than nine billion of them
are chickens. The HMSA is by no means the gold standard of compassion (it’s
much kinder not to raise and kill animals at all), but at least it asserts
that animals should be rendered insensible to pain before being killed.
Because the HMSA does not explicitly include poultry, slaughterers continue
to kill billions of birds annually using such inhumane methods as shackling
them upside down, electrically stunning them into paralysis (but not
unconsciousness) and sometimes drowning them in tanks of scalding water --
all while countless birds are fully conscious.

Urge Congress to amend the law, giving poultry the same basic protection
given to cows, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Visit
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/petition_for_poultry to learn more.

5. ANIMALS USED IN CIRCUSES ARE ABUSED TO PERFORM TRICKS

Believe it or not, elephants, bears, chimpanzees and big cats are not
natural performers. Indeed, animal “trainers” routinely use extremely cruel
devices -- including electric prods, sharpened bullhooks, whips, chains and
tight collars -- to induce fear and pain and force wild animals to ride
tricycles, balance on balls, jump through fire and execute other stunts for
human amusement. Psychological abuse is also key, as elephant “trainers”
George Lewis and Byron Fish explain in their book I Loved Rogues: The Life
of an Elephant Tramp: “[Training an elephant to lie down is] done by
gradually tightening the chain, a few inches at a time, until the elephant
is supporting its weight entirely on the front and hind legs that are free.
It is very tiring for a bull to hold up its mass in this manner. When the
handler sees it weakening, he gives the command, ‘Down! Come on down.’ The
command is repeated until the elephant obeys. Just before it gives in, it
will show signs of fear and defeat. Its eyes will bulge and its bowels
become loose and watery as they are emptied several times. When the elephant
finally surrenders and falls over on its side, it knows it is comparatively
helpless and that it has lost a psychological battle.”

Fortunately, animal-free circuses are growing in popularity and offer
families plenty of excitement and spectacle -- without the misery. For more
about cruelty-free circuses, and what you can do to end animal abuse under
the Big Top, visit www.Circuses.com.

6. PET-FOOD MAKERS TORTURE AND KILL ANIMALS

Few people would guess that many of the same companies producing
commercial pet food -- and promoting dogs and cats as “members of the
family” -- keep animals in small cages as test subjects. In fact, Menu
Foods, which initiated last year’s massive pet-food recall, confirmed its
product caused death by feeding it to animals in laboratories. In another
experiment, sponsored by pet-food maker Iams, 18 young Great Danes were
killed to study the effect of diet on bone density. PETA’s undercover
investigation in one pet-food test lab revealed dogs who had their vocal
chords severed so they couldn’t bark and part of their leg muscles hacked
out and animals confined in dungeon-like cells, left to suffer without
veterinary care. Moreover, Iams purchases animals specifically bred for
experiments, thereby supporting the vivisection industry. Iams told PETA
they will continue to conduct laboratory tests on animals, despite the fact
that these tests are unnecessary and not required by law.

Although nutrition research for animals is important, this can be
accomplished by studying animals who suffer naturally from diseases. It is
no more necessary to torture and kill animals to improve pet food than it is
to make people suffer while studying the human diet. For more information,
including a list of pet-food companies that do not engage in animal testing,
visit www.IamsCruelty.com or www.IamsKills.com.

7. THE PROPER CARE AND USE OF MOST ANIMALS IN U.S. LABORATORIES
ARE NOT COVERED BY LAW

In another bow to corporate interests, the USDA excludes mice, rats and
birds bred for research from the definition of “animal” under the Animal
Welfare Act (AWA), thus neatly eliminating from government protection
approximately 95 percent of all animals used in laboratories. Enacted in
1966, the AWA provides minimal standards of care and use for animals in
laboratories, zoos, circuses and the pet industry (though not pet stores).
Even those animals covered under the AWA -- such as dogs, cats and rabbits
-- can be denied analgesics, anesthetics and tranquilizers if it is deemed
“scientifically necessary” to do so. What this means is that researchers can
force-feed chemicals to animals, pour caustic substances into their eyes,
conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush
their spines, burn them, electrocute them, psychologically torment them and
much more, often with impunity and without any painkillers.

Consider that more than 90 percent of drugs that test “safe” on animals
fail in human studies, and more than half of all approved drugs will be
re-labeled or withdrawn because of serious, even fatal, effects in humans;
indeed, more than 100,000 people die each year in the U.S. from adverse
reactions to approved drugs -- the fifth leading cause of death. Meanwhile,
clinical research (working with people who already have a disease) and
epidemiological studies (comparing health issues in different populations)
help save lives while not exploiting non-human animals.

For more revealing facts and how you can help end this senseless torture,
visit www.neavs.org or www.navs.org.

8. RABBIT FUR IS NOT A BYPRODUCT OF MEAT PRODUCTION

Fur stores may try to mollify their critics by arguing that rabbit fur is
merely a byproduct of the rabbit-meat industry. In truth, rabbit meat and
rabbit fur come from different breeds slaughtered at different ages and for
different purposes. While large breeds, such as the New Zealand White and
Californian, are raised for their flesh, the Rex rabbit is especially prized
for their plush, soft coats. “Meat” rabbits die young -- about 11 weeks old,
when their flesh is still tender. At this age, the rabbit’s fur has not
fully developed and is very light and thin. “Fur” rabbits are kept alive
longer -- about six months, though in squalid conditions -- and suffer
miserable deaths. Most rabbit fur comes from rabbits raised on fur farms,
where they spend their lives in tiny wire cages, thus denied their natural
instincts to burrow, play and enjoy social bonds. To kill rabbits, farmers
smash their skulls or break their necks and then string them up, cut off
their heads and peel the skin from their bodies.

You don’t need fur to be fashionable -- just ask Calvin Klein, Tommy
Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, who are among the major designers who have
shunned fur. For more insights, check out www.FurIsDead.com and
www.RabbitProduction.com.

9. ZOO ANIMALS OFTEN END UP AS HUNTING TROPHIES

Long gone are the days when zoos were the only reasonable place for the
public to see exotic animals. The reality now is that zoos are a business,
businesses need customers and zoos lure customers by breeding or buying new
animals. Older animals must be removed to make room for the new ones;
consequently, “retired” or “surplus” animals are frequently sold to brokers,
who in turn sell them to breeders, circuses, research facilities, auctions,
roadside petting zoos, private parties or hunting ranches. That cuddly lion
cub you see today could end up stuffed and mounted a few years from now.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, zoos that have sold
animals either directly to canned hunts or to dealers who have done business
with auctions or hunts include the Kansas City Zoo, the Los Angeles Zoo, the
Memphis Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, the San Francisco Zoo and the National Zoo
in Washington, DC, to name but a few.

Rather than patronizing zoos, you can support groups that genuinely
rescue exotic animals or work to preserve habitats such as the Performing
Animal Welfare Society, the Elephant Sanctuary, the International Primate
Protection League and the Born Free Foundation. For further details about
zoos and canned hunts, visit www.WildlifeProtection.net or
www.peta.org/campaigns/ar-zoos.asp

10. OUR TAX DOLLARS HELP FUND ANIMAL ABUSE

Like it or not, taxpayers subsidize some of the most appalling cruelty to
animals, including factory farming practices, vivisection and killing
animals on public land. The largest of these subsidies is the Farm Bill
(TFB), a comprehensive piece of federal legislation that comes up about
every five years. TFB provides billions of dollars in subsidies, much of
which goes to agribusinesses producing feed crops, such as corn and soy,
which are then fed to farmed animals. In fact, 74 percent of TFB goes to the
meat and dairy industries, while about one percent goes to help growers of
fruits and vegetables (now you know why healthy foods cost more than fast
food). Thanks to subsidized grain, factory farmers make more profit packing
animals into feedlots than by letting them graze on real farms.

The fiscal irresponsibility continues with vivisection, which is financed
through taxpayer-funded agencies. Vivisection includes toxicity tests of
drugs and substances (animal testing), studies of human disease
(experimental research on animals) and using animals in medical schools
(dissection and practice surgery). The U.S. military also subjects animals
to horrific cruelties such as irradiation, burnings, bombings, wounds and
decompression sickness -- all in the name of national defense. Not only are
these military practices funded by our taxes, but vivisectors receive $7
billion in government grants every year, further bankrolled by taxpayers.

Tax dollars also subsidize a little-known federal agency within the USDA
ironically called Wildlife Services (WS). WS spends much of its time killing
“pests” -- in general, animals who prey on livestock grazing on public land
that has been leased to ranchers for a pittance -- and the number-one pest
of the rancher is the coyote. Methods used to kill these animals include
aerial gunning, gassing pups in their dens, traps that eject sodium-cyanide
into an animal’s mouth, livestock protection collars filled with poison,
steel traps and neck, body and leg snares -- all this despite the
availability of non-lethal methods and evidence that lethal control is
ineffective. Each year, WS kills tens of thousands of coyotes, as well as
hundreds or even thousands of wolves, mountain lions, bears, bobcats and
other animals, sometimes for eating flowers and pet food, digging in gardens
or frightening people.

Sadly, tax dollars are used to underwrite a variety of other animal
abuses, including rodeos, foie gras production, trophy hunting of elephants
in Africa, battery cages used in egg production, the mink-coat industry and
the cruel practice of dog racing, among others. If you object to your taxes
being used to subsidize animal abuse, either on a state or federal level,
tell your elected officials! They can all be located at
www.Congress.org.

These ten spoilers are hardly an inclusive list of what those who profit
from animal abuse would love to keep under wraps. Fortunately, we can all do
something about these injustices. Your action can be as simple as going
vegan, sharing your outrage with others or boycotting a business. Better
yet, why not all three? (Note: If you stop patronizing companies that profit
from animal cruelty, such as zoos and circuses, please tell them why you are
boycotting them.)

Armed with the knowledge of what goes on behind closed doors, we can all
help make a difference in the lives of the defenseless.

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